The majority of citizens in the Balkan countries and Turkey do not trust national governments, while they trust most security institutions – army and police.
Level of trust in institutions in the Balkan countries and Turkey is very low. Citizens have more confidence in security institutions (army and police), then in government institutions (parliament, government, local authorities, the judiciary) and they least trust in political parties. This is concluded in the The Cross-Border Citizens’ Network for Peace, Inter-Communal Reconciliation and Human Security report on trust in institutions in Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Turkey, Serbia and Kosovo.
The report shows that the citizens of the Balkan countries have more confidence in the institutions of the European Union, but in the institutions of the state where they live, and that trust is higher than among the citizens of EU member states. The reasons for this are believed to be lying in a developed rule of law in the EU on the one hand, and expressed clientelism, party patronage and corruption that threaten the institutional mechanisms in the Balkans and in Turkey on the other hand, as well as the citizens’ dissatisfaction with EU democratic deficit in construction of European institutions.
More than half of citizens in Serbia have confidence only in the army. The level of trust in institutions in Serbia is low when it comes to most of the national institutions: the police, the judiciary, parliament, government, and the European institutions. The lowest level of trust with local authorities and political parties are trusted less than a fifth of citizens of Serbia.
The lowest level of trust is in local authorities and political parties, trusted less than a fifth of citizens of Serbia.
Citizens of countries in the region also believe most army and police. More than half of the citizens of Bulgaria and Kosovo have confidence in the EU institutions. The judicial system has confidence of more than half of EU citizens and Turkey. More than half confidence in the national parliament is recorded only in Turkey, while in Bulgaria even 20% of citizens have no confidence in this institution.
